Data, pepper grinders and the endless grit of the Memphis Grizzlies

When the Memphis Grizzlies decided to part ways with former head coach Dave Joerger in favor of former Miami Heat top assistant David Fizdale, many Memphians expected that the grit-and-grind era of Grizzlies basketball was coming to an end.

Fizdale was going to bring the advanced basketball concept of the 3-point shot to Memphis to complete their Tenacious D. While the Grizzlies did eventually finish middle of the pack in 3-point shooting, a complete cultural revolution was not in the cards. Fizdale changed what he could and embraced the rest.

The in-your-face, throwback style of the Grizzlies has tapped into something uniquely Memphis, as they’ve built a rabid fanbase over the past few years. It’s a blue collar town with a rich history in southern wrestling and collegiate basketball. Only the tough survive playing for the Grizzlies and that’s just how Memphis likes it.

Read More: Late draft picks thriving in the 2017 NBA Playoffs

For the last two years, the Grizzlies had been an ideal target for outsiders lobbing in “time to blow it up” opinions and walking away. Despite having two All-Star level players in point guard Mike Conley and center Marc Gasol, Memphis seemed to have fallen into the awful middle of the NBA. The Grizzlies were good enough to win roughly 45 games annually, but poised to fall far short of their ultimate playoff goal.

Memphis did just that in 2016-17. The Grizzlies went 43-39 in Fizdale’s first season as a head coach. Memphis finished as the No. 7 seed in the Western Conference playoff picture. The Grizzlies had the misfortune to play their big, mean, older brother — Southwest Division rival San Antonio Spurs — in round one.

San Antonio would win in six games, the Grizzlies hit the same old wall. But something else of note happened in that first-round series. Fizdale left his indelible mark on the Grizzlies basketball culture. His quote of “take that for data” is now a rallying point which Memphis basketball can get behind forever. Who would have thought that complaining about free throw attempts would unite a southern metropolis?

While there is a great amount of uncertainty surrounding the Grizzlies going forward, we do know four things: 1.) Fizdale is the Grizzlies guy. 2.) Conley and Gasol won’t leave town willingly. Their jerseys will need to be taken from them by force when it’s time for their numbers to be retired and hang in the rafters. 3.) Congratulations, Memphis signed the worst deal of the offseason giving former Dallas Mavericks wing Chandler Parsons a Brock Osweiler-level contract. 4.) The brand is strong in Memphis, as this city loves this incarnation of this basketball team.

We can put to rest any talk of blowing it up. The grit-and-grind era will probably never win an NBA Championship, nor will it win multiple division titles. It’s hard to win in the Southwest Division, let’s be real. So where does Memphis go from here? But who’s to say this era is going anywhere in the first place. The things that changed and the things that didn’t this season showed that grit-and-grind is more than just Zach Randolph, Gasol, and Conley. It’s deeply ingrained in this team and it’s a self-perpetuating identity.

Memphis needs to hope that Fizdale can develop some of these new young backcourt pieces behind Conley and The Grandfather Tony Allen. Conley will make an All-Star team one of these days. Keeping him on the court is paramount in that endeavor. Allen is the team’s igniter defensively. He had to miss the playoffs due to injury. If we can find the technology to turn him into a cyborg that runs on pepper, that must be done, even if a clause in the collective bargaining agreement forbids it.

Allen is getting up their in age and will be an expensive wing defender on the open market. Memphis also has two other aging veterans they’ll need to think about re-signing for cultural purposes in small forward Vince Carter and power forward Zach Randolph. Carter is 40 and a future Basketball Hall-of-Famer. If he has to “retire” and be a coach on Fizdale’s bench, that could work. Seeing Randolph play for another team besides Memphis would be the saddest thing to happen in the NBA since Brandon Roy’s knees gave up on him. Memphis is going to build a Z-Bo statue down on Beale Street or in front of the FedEx Forum. It is decided!

That’s why the Parsons contract is so awful. Memphis will likely end up losing two of its three favorite old dudes because of it. Add in that the Grizzlies still need to pay JaMychal Green in free agency, as well as locate depth in the backcourt, and it doesn’t seem like this fun bunch will be back on the Bluffs of the Mississippi. But that doesn’t mean grit-and-grind is dead, as we saw this year, it’s just evolving.

Though their 2017 NBA Playoffs run ended in just six games, this was yet another unforgettable year in Memphis basketball. We saw Gasol hit that shot. Fizdale doesn’t take data for granted and neither does Memphis. There will be roughly 20,000 Tony Allen pepper grinders circulating throughout Germantown for the rest of time. Homemade barbecue will never be the same. These are all great things.

Next: The burden of being unbeaten in the NBA Playoffs

Though we kick that last bit of dirt on what was the Grizzlies’ 2016-17 NBA season, we should be able to shed a single tear and look back fondly on this new era throwback team. Keep grinding in Memphis in your blue suede basketball shoes.